1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical assembly (hereinafter denoted as OSA), in particular, to configuration for heat dissipation thereof that installs a device generating a large heat.
2. Related Prior Art
The OSA installs an optical semiconductor device therein. A semiconductor laser diode and a semiconductor photodiode are well known as the optical semiconductor device. The OSA installing the laser diode is called as a transmitting optical sub-assembly (TOSA), while the OSA installing the photodiode is called as a receiving optical sub-assembly (ROSA). Recently, as the tramsmission speed of the optical communication increases, the optical semiconductor device must be operated in high speed, which inevitably enhances the heat dissipation of the semiconductor device. Therefore, the TOSA or the ROSA should require the configuration by which the heat generated thereof effectively dissipates to the outside of the TOSA or the ROSA.
United States patent application published as US 20030021310A1 has disclosed various configurations for the heat dissipation of the OSA with a co-axial shape. FIG. 1 of this application has illustrated a radiating fin 140 having an opening mating with the stem of the OSA. The radiating fin 140 is extended from the header 104 and attached to the heat sink 146. FIG. 3 of this application has illustrated another arrangement in which a member 306, fitting to the outer shape of the stem 312, touches thereto in one end thereof, and the other end is extended from the stem 312 and attached to the heat sink 304. Further, a metal member 404 surrounding the stem 410 directly touches the heat sink 406 in FIG. 4 of this application.
Generally, the OSA is used as one of components for an optical data link or an optical transceiver. The arrangement of the heat dissipation of the OSA should take the structure of the data link or the optical transceiver into account. Moreover, from the material point of view, a cost saving material such as alloy of copper and tungsten (CuW) should be avoided even if such material has good thermal conductivity.
Based on the background described above, one object of the present invention is to provide an OSA and an optical transceiver using the OSA with an effective heat dissipating arrangement and without using a cost ineffective material.